The 19th edition of ITMA proved to be a great success for Italian textile machinery manufacturers. ACIMIT President Zucchi noted: “So many satisfied visitors and exhibitors, confirming the vitality of the global textile machinery industry, and of the sector in Italy particularly.”
ITMA 2023, which was held in Milan from June 8 to 14 at the exhibition fairgrounds of Fiera Milano – Rho, closed with some impressive figures. Hosting 1709 exhibitors in total, the seven-day fair registered an attendance of over 111,000 people hailing from 143 countries.
With 422 companies exhibiting their wares, Italy was by far the country with the largest contingent, coming in first for the number of visitors as well at 29% of the total in attendance, followed by Turkey, India and Germany (6% each), France (4%) and Brazil (3%).
“ITMA remains a must event for the industry, and the figures for the edition in Milan speak for themselves, confirming the resilience of the textile sector worldwide”, comments Alessandro Zucchi, President of ACIMIT. “As far as our country is concerned, the number of exhibitors and visitors testifies to the vitality of the entire Italian textile supply chain. Italy’s success, both in terms of visitors in attendance and orders acquired during the fair, is the consequence of a deep rooted commitment – which is also an economic investment – put forward by our manufacturers, and the indispensable support in implementing promotional initiatives for ITMA with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and by the Italian Trade Agency”.
Solutions were being proposed for more sustainable textile productions by most of the exhibitors, and here too Italian manufacturers were absolutely at the forefront, with solutions catering to saving water, energy and raw materials. Sustainability was also the main focus of the ACIMIT press conference, in which the ACIMIT Green Label Award was assigned to two Italian manufacturers, Pafasystem S.r.l and Brazzoli S.r.l., who among ACIMIT’s associated members have proved to be the most committed to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions produced during the operation of their machinery over the past few years.
Among the many government representatives in attendance, ITMA 2023 hosted high-level delegations from two of the world’s major textile producing countries, India and Uzbekistan. ACIMIT’s top management thus met with the President of Uzbekistan Shavkat Mirziyoyev and the Indian Minister of Textiles, Mrs. Darshana Vikram Jardosh, showcasing the excellence of Italian technology on offer. Other significant encounters took place with the Ambassador of Iran Mohammad Reza Sabouri, as well as with representatives of the Italian Government, such as the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Honourable Giorgio Silli.
In conclusion, a comment by ACIMIT President Zucchi: “This edition will be remembered for the message it conveyed, as exhibitors presented numerous technological innovations focusing on a search for greater sustainability and a more decisive digitization of textile production processes. Sustainability and digitization: a combination that constitutes the key to success for the entire textile supply chain, and which I am sure will see new developments at ITMA’s next edition, to be held in Hannover (Germany) from September 16 to 22, 2027.”